Subtitles and Transcript

Will Potter

0:11
It was less than a year after September 11,and I was at the Chicago Tribunewriting about shootings and murders,and it was leaving me feelingpretty dark and depressed.I had done some activism in college,so I decided to help a local grouphang door knockers against animal testing.I thought it would be a safe wayto do something positive,but of course I have the absolute worst luck ever,and we were all arrested.Police took this blurry photo of meholding leaflets as evidence.

0:40
My charges were dismissed,but a few weeks later,two FBI agents knocked on my door,and they told me that unless I helped themby spying on protest groups,they would put me on a domestic terrorist list.I'd love to tell you that I didn't flinch,but I was terrified,and when my fear subsided,I became obsessed with finding outhow this happened,how animal rights and environmental activistswho have never injured anyonecould become the FBI's number onedomestic terrorism threat.

1:11
A few years later, I was invited to testifybefore Congress about my reporting,and I told lawmakers that, while everybodyis talking about going green,some people are risking their livesto defend forests and to stop oil pipelines.They're physically putting their bodies on the linebetween the whalers' harpoons and the whales.These are everyday people,like these protesters in Italywho spontaneously climbed overbarbed wire fences to rescue beaglesfrom animal testing.And these movements have been incredibly effectiveand popular,so in 1985, their opponents made up a new word,eco-terrorist,to shift how we view them.They just made it up.

1:54
Now these companies have backed new lawslike the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act,which turns activism into terrorismif it causes a loss of profits.Now most people never even heard about this law,including members of Congress.Less than one percent were in the roomwhen it passed the House.The rest were outside at a new memorial.They were praising Dr. Kingas his style of activism was branded as terrorismif done in the name of animals or the environment.

2:25
Supporters say laws like this are neededfor the extremists:the vandals, the arsonists, the radicals.But right now, companies like TransCanadaare briefing police in presentations like this oneabout how to prosecute nonviolent protestersas terrorists.The FBI's training documents on eco-terrorismare not about violence,they're about public relations.Today, in multiple countries,corporations are pushing new lawsthat make it illegal to photographanimal cruelty on their farms.The latest was in Idaho just two weeks ago,and today we released a lawsuitchallenging it as unconstitutionalas a threat to journalism.

3:07
The first of these ag-gag prosecutions,as they're called,was a young woman named Amy Meyer,and Amy saw a sick cow being movedby a bulldozer outside of a slaughterhouseas she was on the public street.And Amy did what any of us would:She filmed it.When I found out about her story, I wrote about it,and within 24 hours, it created such an uproarthat the prosecutors just dropped all the charges.

3:32
But apparently, even exposing stuff like thatis a threat.Through the Freedom of Information Act,I learned that the counter-terrorism unithas been monitoring my articlesand speeches like this one.They even included this nice
little write-up of my book.They described it as "compelling and well-written."(Applause)Blurb on the next book, right?

3:57
The point of all of this is to make us afraid,but as a journalist, I have an unwavering faithin the power of education.Our best weapon is sunlight.

4:08
Dostoevsky wrote that the whole work of manis to prove he's a man and not a piano key.Over and over throughout history,people in power have used fearto silence the truth and to silence dissent.It's time we strike a new note.